NYT Editorial: How to Help Working People

Labor News

Reprinted from The New York Times by its Editorial Board on December 5, 2016.

The fate of the Obama-era labor reforms is in the hands of President-elect Donald Trump. What he decides to do will affect the pay and working conditions of tens of millions of people, making those decisions far more consequential — practically and politically — than striking a deal to keep 800 factory jobs in Indiana. If Trump chooses to meet the needs of the people who elected him, he will retain the reforms.

A defining issue emerged shortly after the election when a federal judge in Texas blocked the Obama administration’s new overtime-pay rules from taking effect as planned on December 1. The ruling denied extra pay for extra work to as many as 12.5 million salaried workers — those earning between $455 and $913 a week — including 7.3 million who live in the 30 states that went for Trump. If Trump defends the new rules through the appeals process, he will be sticking up for those people. If he doesn’t, he’ll be supporting the agenda of establishment Republicans and their corporate allies. …